AIBU to think most people have no idea how wealthy people live their lives?

[AnneValentine]

Just that really off the back of a lot of threads but most recently one where multiple people were adamant that the only way it’s possible to have no savings if you have salaries of £200k plus unless one of the couple is squirrelling savings.

Followed up with how do they pay for a broken down car with savings? Hasn’t even dawned on them that people on those salaries don’t have cars that are breaking down.

Is it so hard to believe that money literally eliminates money worries? That you can create a level of security that means savings and such aren’t needed?

I move it across to a) stay organised, and b) it earns better interest - or in the case of PB it's fun to win the prizes each month?

No. It’s that people aren’t cannot grasp it. They cannot. As evidenced by this thread and the two threads that led me to post this in the first place.

What exactly is it that people can't grasp?

But I don’t want it to earn interest. I want to use it to pay for the holiday. If I wanted it to
”earn” an income I would add it our investment budget and kiss it goodbye.

That we don’t need a pot of money aside for an emergency broken boiler.

I don’t agree that money we have left over is the same as someone making a conscious effort to put money aside in savings.

So is this, after 20 effing pages, your core question? "Are savings only savings when you carefully manage them, or can they be savings when they happen without you needing to think about them?"

The definition of savings is having enough liquid to pay for additional expenses. It doesn't matter a flying badger's arse whether you keep this resource in a sock under the bed or on your child's GoHenry card or in a normal bank account or in a savings account or in the form of a Picasso that you know the auction house would buy back within 3 hours.

Obviously anyone who said "wow, 200k and no savings, someone must be squirelling money away" meant this: 200k salary paid every month with nothing left over, zero balance after tax, zero contributions to any other asset, implies you are spending a fairly big whack every month without fail and that seemed unusual.

You've got all stressed out about people accusing you/DH of squirreling money away. Ok you're not hiding money, you're just leaving it to wash around in your current account.

Is this what you are asking? Are you OK now?!

This is the most bizarre thread!

Enjoyable read, though agree with the previous posters, a person who earns a reasonable amount monthly is trying to tell everybody how wealthy people live their lives, despite not being one.

Odd, but amusing.

Someone with savings, budgeted for and regularly deducted from salary will not need to reduce their standard of living or budget more heavily over X months if...part of the roof blows off, boiler blows up, to pay for their £10k holiday, whatever.

Someone with no accessible savings WILL have to budget, possibly heavily, to pay for such things.

It doesn't matter if your monthly income is £2k or £20k. When you have an unexpected £10k bill, if you usually spend the majority of your income (not including investments) you'll need to reduce your usual standard of living, pull back on your usual spending, to pay for that.

If you live that way and it's not necessary to do so more fool you. Poor financial resilience and understanding isn't something to be proud of, however much your salary is.

You think I’m stressed? I’m really not. Bored? Amused? Somewhere between to two. Definitely not stressed.

Why does it matter?

OP is a modern day Hyacinth Bucket. Has delusions of grandeur. Wants to considered wealthy. And will make a fool out herself to do so. What a bizarre individual.

'That we don’t need a pot of money aside for an emergency broken boiler.'

OK. Is that it?

Ok. Well, I mentioned I put the school fees into Premium Bonds. I pay them three times a year. In the interim, I like to have them in PB because I'll get a cash prize - maybe one day £1m! More likely £100. But to me, that's a better place for them than just sitting in my current account doing nothing.

Cash sitting in your current account isn’t savings.

But in a previous post you defined savings as "money you can easily access in the case of an emergency"

We aren’t saving it though. It’s just not been spent.

That's an odd distinction in the context of money leftover at the end of the month. If it happens frequently, it builds up. To me, that is essentially being saved.

Are suggesting that people living month to month find £100 left in their account and that’s immediately considered to be savings?

I think that if someone usually spent all their income in a month, but one month had £100 leftover, they may well say "I've managed to save £100 this month".
If they have £100 leftover every month, they'd say "I earn enough to save £100 a month" even if not actually transferred to a savings account, because at the end of every month their account is £100 higher. If every few months they spend that chunk, I'd say they save £100 a month for 3 months, then spend it.

OP, Investments and pensions = savings!

But even in a month or two you could earn a bit of interest on say £10k while it isn't doing anything else. It seems odd to throw that away for the sake of 5 minutes and two internet transfers.

There's no end to your superiority both intellectually and financially, is there?

Many people understand the point you are trying to make, even though you have articulated it extremely poorly.

I'm certain there are people on the thread who are on much better positions than you but aren't crass enough to mention it. Money talks but wealth whispers.

Has OP got a special car, even brand new ones can break down but not OPs according to her, or does that mean she has a chauffeur.

It's not that people are too stupid to grasp your point, it's that your point is stupid

That seems about right!

There's no end to your superiority both intellectually and financially, is there?

😂

I think this sums up the point the op wants to hammer home.

Well done op...we get it, truly. We understand and accept your superiority wholeheartedly, well done you 👏👏👏

Surely £13k a month isn’t that high? I bring home £5k as a single parent in London and don’t feel wealthy. As a couple you’re only bringing in £3k more than me comparatively. I mean it’s certainly well off - but surely doesn’t classify as ‘wealthy’ in that sense. Plus I have more savings than you in ISAs and investments I can access!!!

I think if nothing else, we’ve firmly established that OP doesn’t actually know how the wealthy live.

Like it or not, she’s living like the rest of us and having to shuffle things around if a big expense pops up. She may have more 00s but she’s adopted exactly the same way of living - cover what you can with insurance, try not to spend your whole monthly income and if a big expense occurs, spread it out.

That’s not wealthy 😂😂😂

'That we don’t need a pot of money aside for an emergency broken boiler.'

But you do need it OP! You just happen to have it already, the pot of money is refilled automatically month on month.

It only becomes a distinct pot when you need to differentiate and make tradeoffs - like you've said you sometimes do.

I don't have a "bills pot" in my kitchen that I put my bills total into each month on payday, because I'm confident that my usual spending leaves me with enough left that the bills just get paid. My sister does as she earns a lot less than me.

It is you who don't understand that you are lacking the mental model of money, the infrastructure that underlies an attitude to short and long term resource planning. You might never need this infrastructure, fine, but saying it is us who don't understand , because you are able to leave some elements of it to look after itself, seems a bit rich*

*though not wealthy

Because we wanted to go on the holiday so we booked it. It seems odd to me to transfer money into a savings account and not book the flights you want and then pay two months later hoping the price hasn’t changed (it will) or worse that the flight is booked.

Also that interest is taxable so that becomes a bloody pain as well.